Consumers have an increasing amount of on-demand media content available to them. For example, on-demand media content includes visual content (e.g., movies, television shows, still images), audio content (e.g., music), and software applications (e.g., games).
Along with an increasing amount of available on-demand content, consumers desire an easy way to access their streaming media content. For example, consumers desire improvements relating to the ways in which they interact with their multimedia audiovisual devices such as television sets to initiate timers, as well as relating to the ways that such timers control such devices.
Various existing technologies are known for implementing a “sleep timer” or “shut-off timer” in the context of television sets. Typically, a certain time of day or night (e.g., 11:30 p.m.) may be input or otherwise communicated to a device (e.g., a television set) by a user to determine the point in time at which the timer will execute a specific action (e.g., turn the television set off). Alternatively, it is also known that a relative length of time (e.g., two hours after the current time) may be specified as the timer action-execution point instead of an absolute time of day. One commonly known use for such a timer is to set it at night, as a user is getting ready to go to sleep, with the intention that the user may fall asleep before the timer action-execution point in time is reached, and then when that time is reached the timer will turn off the television set at the specified time, thereby conserving power and reducing the audiovisual stimulus to which the user is exposed during sleep, among other potential benefits.
Various disadvantages are associated with existing implementations. For example, abrupt changes in sound volume and/or brightness intensity at the time action-execution point (even if transitioning to silence and/or darkness) may sometimes be disturbing to certain users, such that they may awaken. Such a result is clearly the opposite of the user's intention in many cases. In other instances, a user may actually still be awake (although potentially temporarily distracted) at the time that the timer causes the device to turn off or become deactivated in some way, and returning the relevant devices to their previous operational state may be cumbersome and/or annoying to the user at that point. Such disadvantages or limitations may be exacerbated in relatively complex hardware environments, such as those in which a television set is connected to separate sound amplifiers and/or speakers, and potentially to other devices such as projectors, audiovisual receivers, DVD players, DVRs (Digital Video Recorders), game consoles, cable or satellite receivers, content streaming devices, and the like.
Like reference numerals refer to corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings.